Plot: A quartet of heavily-armed extra-terrestrials come to Earth to retrieve a previously abandoned doomsday machine. Who can stop them? Kids!
Who's It For? This is the fluffiest and family-friendliest presentation of a possible alien takeover in eons. The tiny green aliens are scary more than ugly, and the overall violence in the film is for the most part slapstick. My dog would probably scamper down to the basement after a couple of loud crashes, but she has always been a wuss.
Movie:
Aliens In The Attic is a movie of shenanigans from start to finish. Before the title becomes relevant, the kids are partaking in rebellious activity, like giving the online school grades the ol’ two letter grade bump, or assassinating their sister’s jerky boyfriend with a paintball gun. The group of bored, technology efficient kids are then given the mother load of tomfoolery when they start fighting a group of aliens, with a submission of keeping it from mom and dad; that would spoil the fun, apparently.
As easy as it may be to discredit a movie so simple and seemingly cutesy, Aliens in the Attic beats back the naysayers by standing as more than decent family entertainment. The movie is fine with its straightforwardness, but it has so many elements working for it that being un-amused by the film seems impossible. Kevin Nealon, Andy Richter, and a group of other seasoned funny people add some ha-ha appearances, and Step Up 2 prettyboy Robert Hoffman does some spectacular self-depreciating physical humor. It is slightly sad to see Doris Roberts complying with ageist jokes, but her martial arts fight scene with Hoffman (whilst under alien control) is what the rest of this movie aims for - fun. When the earthlings are trying to stop the aliens, their efforts can hardly be taken serious. They're just taking playtime to a predicament that's only slightly more out of parent world than video games.
Extras
Kung Fu Grandma - Footage of Doris Roberts kicking Robert Hoffman's butt in the movie's rather epic fight sequence is re-cut to resemble an advertisement for an interactive new toy.
Lights, Camera, Aliens! - The Blu-Ray's only purely behind the scenes featurette. Many people from the cast, along with the director and producer, add at least a blurb about their experience. Although familiar faces like Thomas Haden Church and J.K Simmons helped do the voices for the Zirkonian aliens, they are nowhere to be heard from.
The Ashley Encounters - Some more behind the camera footage, but with an obvious focus on Ashley Tisdale, the most notable face to the movie’s younger audience. She gushes about fiming in New Zealand and then people say nice things about her. Considering this feature and the two introductions to the film, this Blu-Ray also aims to provide a decent serving of Tisdale.
Other Extras:
Introductions to the Film and Special Features with Ashley Tisdale Alternate Ending Deleted Scenes Gag Reel Animated Short "Behind the Zirkonians" Meet the Zirkonians Interactive Featurette Brian Anthony "Electricity" Music Video Fox Movie Channel presents "Life After Film School" with Barry Josephson
Overall
If I had a time machine, I’d hop into my Delorean and recommend this movie to my not-so-picky ten year old self. Ten year old Nicolas would enjoy its adventure - but I enjoy it now because it does such so simply. The harmless Aliens In The Attic is light family entertainment, and it’s certainly empowering to any kids who are glued to electronic devices. The main characters (who deserve thespian kudos for acting along with models, not the CGI as we see) find themselves in an opportune heroic situation, and it’s all over by bed-time.
But before snuggling under my Spider-Man sheets, I'd probably check out the special features, which are cutesy but none the less filling to this particular Blu-Ray. It's all light weight, but it loads this particular package to a fulfilling amount. Content with the extras and its satisfying feature, I'd finally hop on the Sleep Express. Considering the ways that the special features try to sneak Ashley Tisdale into as many extras as possible somewhat subliminally, I'd probably have a dream that we were squaring off against aliens that are as scary as the inhabitants of Space Jam's Moron Mountain. Or maybe we're just playing video games. Either way, I'm sure it would be fun.
